As we enter 2012, it is time for that yearly tradition gamers treasure: arguing about the best games of the previous year. Over the next ten days, the Padinga crew will be sharing their favorite games over a variety of different categories. These categories have been designed to force our wonderful staff to pick only one game each, meaning many great games will be left out in the cold. We do this for two reasons: 1) to provoke thoughtful discussion in our comments about the games we forgot, and 2) to cause Mecha to have a heart attack. Hit the…
Author: Eric Robbins
As we enter 2012, it is time for that yearly tradition gamers treasure: arguing about the best games of the previous year. Over the next ten days, the Padinga crew will be sharing their favorite games over a variety of different categories. These categories have been designed to force our wonderful staff to pick only one game each, meaning many great games will be left out in the cold. We do this for two reasons: 1) to provoke thoughtful discussion in our comments about the games we forgot, and 2) to cause Mecha to have a heart attack. Hit the…
Sony has announced the titles that will be available for the US Vita launch, as well as the titles arriving in the always ambiguous “launch Window”. As expected, Uncharted will make the launch, but LittleBigPlanet is no where to be seen. There are several PSN and third party titles as well, which can be found in the complete list after the jump.
Well, that didn’t take long. Within 48 hours of starting Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Early Access, Sony Online Entertainment has announced the end of the Star Wars based MMO. Wait, Sony? I thought Bioware made The Old Republic. Why is Sony announcing the end of…oh. OH. Oh my, this is embarrassing. Star Wars: The Old Republic isn’t the game ending, but rather the original Star Wars massively multiplayer online game, Star Wars: Galaxies. If you’re as shocked as me that the game is still running, join me after the jump for a look at all the great things…
Valve has announced the beginning of their sales push for the holidays. Throughout the holidays, Steam will pick ten users and give them the top ten games on their wishlist. To enter, you simply have to log in to the Steam webpage, build a wishlist, and then go to the featured deal of the day. Do that and you’re in. Expect this deal to run until the start of Steam’s daily holiday sales, which started on December 20th last year. Steam Store Press release after the break:
For the last two years, I’ve tried to inform you, our wonderful readers, of excellent deals online. With the arrival of Black Friday, now you have several options! Amazon is having gaming lightning deals all day, as well as a large set of games discounted. Earlier deals included Batman: Arkham City for $28. Steam is doing their traditional “change the deal every 24 hours”. Also, I’m rather impressed with Origin’s sale. Most titles are 50% off, excluding Star Wars: The Old Republic, and some third party titles. Battlefield 3 is available for $29.99 Newegg has some fun stuff, but…
Ah, America. Land of opportunity. Land of (semi) prosperity. Land considering SOPA, a bill that would make it all right for Uncle Sam to limit access to websites it finds reprehensible. Wait, what? Yes, our country is considering a new bill called SOPA, or Stop Online Piracy Act. This bill would essentially allow the government to choose which websites would be blocked, a decision made largely on how much a website provides content that infringes on IP. Oh, it also raises the punishments “for individuals who traffic in counterfeit medicine and military goods”. One of these things is not…
Activision is having a very good week. After data showing that Battlefield 3 has failed to top both Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on XBox LIVE the last few weeks, they just go and throw more sand in EA’s face. The latest release in the Call of Duty franchise, Modern Warfare 3, has broken the record for day-one sales in video games, which means they’re sitting on three titles now that have been the biggest entertainment releases ever. Analysts suspect that the title topped $400 million dollars in sales, with sales of around…
Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday! Now that I’ve successfully planted Rebecca Black’s timeless hit into your head, I wanted to drop off two interesting things floating around the Internet for the last 24 hours. First, we’ve got the officially released Rainbow Six: Patriots Concept Video, brought to you by Game Informer. Why can’t you watch it here? Well, for one, there isn’t a good copy of it floating around online. Two, I haven’t found another copy that begins with the developer stressing that, while awesome, the video is not gameplay. It is also worthwhile to see how…
The third entry into Sony’s Uncharted series hits stores this week, once again placing players in the shoes of Indiana Jones Nathan Drake. Reviews have been popping up pretty consistently for the last week, and the game has received nearly universal acclaim. As a matter of fact, the reviews have been so glowing that Eurogamer almost had a community meltdown when they posted their 8/10 review. That’s right, an eight out of ten caused rabid fanboys to to call for the head of a reviewer. Stay classy, gamers. Expectations are ungodly high for this game. The first two titles…
Yeah, so Blizzcon’s Starcraft trailer was pretty sick, but what about everything else they announced yesterday? First up, a new expansion for World of Warcraft: Oh hell yes, a new Asian themed environment? I’ve seen a lot of people questioning the expansion, but I think it looks like a breath of fresh air. The last three have all been “Azeroth is on the brink of destruction”, which was growing stale. A bunch of panda-infused martial arts mayhem seems like a much needed, lighthearted break. Even more after the jump!
Both Andrew and I attended the AMC Uncharted 3 event in Los Angeles, and I have to say it was a blast. Paying $60 for the ticket / early access to the game just seems to make sense to me, especially when I was already going to spend that amount on the game to begin with. We also had some opportunities to chitchat with the actors and crew behind the game (sorry, no official Padinga interviews coming) which was a treat. While the multiplayer tournament was fun, by far my favorite thing to come out of the event was…
If you’ve been a fan of World of Warcraft for some time, Blizzard may have come up with one of the most unique charity auctions ever. Starting next week on October 17th, Blizzard will be auctioning the original server blades used for World of Warcraft. That’s right, the realm itself, housed in its metal coffin. The blade have been retired, taken out of service for newer, faster hardware, but that shouldn’t stop your trip down memory lane. The blades are engraved and signed by various members of the WoW crew, adding to the nerd points you’ll be accruing. …
The Battlefield 3 beta, which ends this weekend, just got a much needed jolt. After the incessant whining from nearly all of the beta participants, DICE announced today that the Caspian Border map would be available for the final weekend. Caspian Border is a map that Joe and I discussed on this week’s game show, one that shows what Battlefield is truly about. It is a 64 person, vehicle filled map, which means you can count on at least six or seven people on your team just waiting for a helicopter to spawn; they will then take said helicopter…
The public beta for Battlefield 3 has been available for about 24 hours, and I just wanted to take a moment to encourage you all to download it for your system of choice. If you’re on PC, I hope you’re not suffering through all the questionable design decisions I am. Decisions such as being able to only open the options menu while playing and alive, making you an easy kill while you tweak your video settings. Decisions such as the complete absence of VoIP support. Decisions such as being forced to use a website for your server selections.…
To kick off the launch of Uncharted 3, Sony and AMC are doing an event in major cities that involves you paying $25 to see it on the big screen and play a little multiplayer. Not the best deal, right? What if I told you that you could instead pay $60, go to the event, and then GET THE GAME MAILED TO YOU A WEEK EARLY? Now that I have your attention, which you should divert to the other side of the jump.
The release of Gears of War 3 is bittersweet in some ways. To me, Gears of War is a franchise that always showcased the potential of the new consoles, before the masses even laid hands on the XBox 360. Hell, it was the single reason I purchased an XBox at launch; before you jump on that, let me say I was aware that Gears wouldn’t come out for nearly a year after the launch, and you just let me justify my purchases however I damn well please. Back to the subject at hand, Gears of War was a…
In their continuing effort to prove that their the best damn game company in the business, Valve has decided to give out (once again) the original Portal for free. If you haven’t played it yet, what the hell is wrong with you? Excuse me. What I meant is you should pick up one of the most meme-filled games ever, and start working towards your cake. You can pick up the game on Steam, but you must do so before September 20th, which is when everyone will disappear to the 360 for a little something called Gears of War…
id Software and I have a somewhat strained relationship. You see, growing up I was obsessed with the classic PC staples Doom, Doom 2, and Wolfenstein 3D. This love continued with the release of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Then it happened. Doom 3. I’m sorry, but talk about a letdown. Lame weapons, repetitive enemies (oh great, another Imp), and a short and unsatisfying campaign all combined to a fully underwhelming experience. It was akin to eating the reheated left-overs of the greatest meal you remember eating ten years ago. Since that disappointment, all that id has directly created…
Gears of War 3 is almost here! With its release, Gears 3 marks the beginning of a very intense Fall / Winter release schedule, so brace your wallets. Epic and Microsoft have released their final trailer, “Dust to Dust”, which wraps up three excellent pre-release trailers. Everyone remembers the “Mad World” trailer for the original Gears, and Gears 2 had the excellent “Last Day”. Check it out below! Trailer hosted on the Machinima Youtube channel
Cliffy B took to Twitter today to announce that Epic has concluded work on the final entry in the Gears of War trilogy. Congrats to Epic and Microsoft for completing development! Everyone start your countdowns to next month’s release! In preparation for the next entry in the Gears series, I’ll be replaying the prior titles. How will you be gearing (oh, I’m so funny) up over the next month? Gears of War 3 will be available exclusively on the XBox 360. The title launches September 20, 2011.
Valve has just announced that a new Counter-Strike title, Global Offensive (CS:GO) will be landing on Steam early next year. Hit the jump for the official release!
Thanks for our friends at Microsoft, I’ve been playing some Fruit Ninja Kinect over the last few days. The Kinect-requiring XBLA exclusive version of the incredibly popular iPhone app lands today, dropping with a price tag of $10 (800 MS Points) for Fruit Ninja fanatics everywhere. Hit the jump to find out whether or not Fruit Ninja Kinect is simply a cheap cash in on a popular mobile game, or a legitimately amusing Kinect experience!
Overnight, Nintendo seems to have done a 180 on the 3DS. In just a few weeks, they’ll slash nearly a third off the price (landing at $169.99) of their latest handheld just five months after its launch earlier this year. Surely this means the 3DS must be failing, right? Hit the jump for a quick breakdown on what’s really going on with the 3DS price drop, and the silver lining for early adopters.
Blizzard has a new way to keep you coming back for more in the World of Warcraft. First, the game became free to play through level 20, which was a genius idea. No longer do I have to feel guilty about recruiting friends to play with me, only to find I’m busy for the next month and they’re wasting their $15. Now, Blizzard has added another feature that gets old raiders and dungeon explorers like me back in the…game? The point is, I used to fight through most of WoW’s dungeons, but I haven’t for sometime. That could…
I’m going to just jump right into this with full disclosure: I didn’t care for F.E.A.R. 3. There’s a whole slew of problems with the title, which I’ll elaborate on in a second (after the jump, naturally). On the plus side, I learned a valuable lesson about friendship, and how friends make even the most inane gaming experiences entertaining by their presence. So that’s something, right? Without the unwavering support of both Red (who watched the majority of the game) and Break (who I actually played the title with), I’m not sure I would have completed the game. …
Last year, Steam managed to suck so much money out of my wallet with their “Perils of Summer” Sale. Every day, new games would appear, typically for really great prices. Well, its that time again, and now Valve invites everyone to Summer Camp! New this time around is the ability to unlock “tickets” that can be redeemed for DLC from various titles. Tickets are earned by completing several summer themed achievements across the games; get the achievement, get a ticket. At the moment, all items cost 3, and you can earn one instantly by joining the Steam Summer…
Valve’s totally bitchin’ class based multiplayer FPS, Team Fortress 2, is now one of Steam’s free to play games. That’s right, totally free. What the hell are you waiting for?
One of the things I love about World of Warcraft is the massive content patches that Blizzard releases about every four to eight months. They’re a nice way to break up the game, and they tend to add a bit of new content with each one. Some of the most popular and memorable content, including the original Molten Core raid and the war efforts for Ahn’Qiraj, came from incremental patches and not full expansions. This continues with patch 4.2: Rage of the Firelands, the latest patch that continues to show what a crappy place Azeroth truly is. Seriously, this place…
Amazon has put up pre-orders for the Playstation Vita. Both models, the WiFi or 3G/WiFi, are currently available. Don’t forget that with Amazon you’ll get the cheapest price that occurs after you’ve placed a pre-order, meaning you’ll get the best possible deal between the time of ordering and when the item ships. You also don’t pay until the item ships, which is nice if you’re spending all your hard earned cash on a fancy new grill for this summer. Linkage!